BATON ROUGE - The LSU gymnastics team checked in at No. 8 in the 2013 GymInfo Coaches Preseason Poll released Monday.

It is the highest preseason ranking for the Tigers since LSU was No. 6 to open the 2010 season, and it marks the 16th straight year LSU is ranked in the top 15 in the preseason poll.

The Tigers return 12 letterwinners, including four All-SEC and All-America gymnasts, from the 2012 squad that reached the NCAA Championships for the 23rd time in school history and finished No. 9 in the final standings.

LSU will face a challenging schedule in 2013 with all 11 regular season meets coming against teams ranked in the preseason poll, including home meets against No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Florida, No. 11 Georgia, No. 12 Arkansas and No. 22 North Carolina State.

The Tigers open the season in the Maravich Center on Jan. 4 against the NC State Wolfpack.

Season tickets are on sale now at a cost of $25 for adults and $15 for youth ages 3-12 by logging on to www.LSUtix.net, calling the LSU Ticket Office at 225-578-2184 or visiting the ticket office on the first floor of the LSU Athletics Administration Building next to Tiger Stadium.

The preseason poll top five consists of Alabama at No. 1, UCLA at No. 2, Florida at No. 3, Oklahoma at No. 4 and Utah at No. 5.

Stanford is No. 6, Nebraska is No. 7, LSU is No. 8, Oregon State is No. 9, and Michigan rounds out the top 10.

For the third straight season, every SEC team is ranked in the preseason poll as Georgia is No. 11, Arkansas is No. 12, Auburn is No. 13, newly-added member Missouri is No. 21 and Kentucky is No. 25.